20 Of The Most Dramatic YouTuber Apology Videos

Back when all YouTube consisted of was webcam filmed makeup tutorials and gaming videos, nobody really had to worry about a dodgy old tweet popping up. These days, YouTube stars are considered modern-day celebrities, with some living in huge million-dollar houses, owning lucrative brands, and selling out massive arenas for meetups and masterclasses. With fame comes an awful lot of scrutiny, so it's not surprising that a lot of these YouTubers have had past (or present) actions come back to bite them in the ass. And what comes along with a YouTube scandal? A painful-to-watch apology video.
To celebrate the new video genre, here are 20 of the best YouTuber apology videos in the history of the video platform.

Tana Mongeau’s Apology For Being Racist

YouTube / Tana Mongeau

It was hard to single out one Tana Mongeau apology for this list, but this one probably takes the cake in scandal factor. Tana is one of the most controversial YouTubers out there right now, so nobody was shocked when her not-so-great past began cropping up. Tweets the YouTuber wrote when she was a teenager that featured the n-word reared their head back in 2017, leading Tana to make a video acknowledging her comments and apologizing, saying that, while growing up in Las Vegas, the word was used so often that she thought it meant "homie." Although viewers thought Tana was excusing her actions, she still continued to make videos and is as popular as ever today.

Manny Mua’s “I Will Do Better” Video

YouTube / Manny Mua

Makeup YouTuber Manny MUA is known for having feuds with fellow influencers in the YouTube beauty community, but this apology video was made after it came to light that he mistreated a fan. In August 2018, a video surfaced from a meet and greet with Manny and his former best friend, Jeffree Star. In the video, a fan walks up to hug Jeffree, and while they were embracing, Manny pulls a funny face at Jeffree and starts to laugh. Manny uploaded a video about the incident, claiming that he laughed because the fan in the video walked right by him when he tried to hug her and he felt "awkward." Manny's friendship with Jeffree has since ended, but this entire situation blew over, too.

Nikita Dragun’s Pedophilia Tweet

YouTube / Nikita Dragun

Nikita Dragun has been relatively okay when it comes to massive scandals, except for when this old tweet of hers came to light. A tweet from 2012 showed Nikita saying: "I'm not saying your child is ugly ... I'm just saying you will never have to worry about pedophiles." People were freaked, obviously, and Nikita decided to indirectly address it in the worst way ever — via Snapchat. The YouTuber uploaded a series of vague snaps where she talked about being different to the person she was when she was 15 and saying "insensitive things," despite never acknowledging what these things were. The statement was weak and the apology non-existent, so this was a definite flop.

Gabbie Hanna & Kenza Cosmetics

YouTube / Gabbie Hanna

Gabbie Hanna is known for having a pretty sour attitude when it comes to most things in the world, but when it came to apologizing for scamming her fans, that was when she hit her lowest. The YouTuber was called out at the end of 2018 for promoting a fake brand who was taking customers' money for makeup brushes that were never delivered. Gabbie uploaded a response video two weeks after the scandal kicked off, which was disguised in a "Get Ready With Me" style video, in which she was extremely defensive about the accusations and continued to defend the company. Viewers were extremely unhappy with her response and she's since deleted the video.

Logan Paul’s Suicide Forest Video

YouTube / Logan Paul

In probably the worst YouTube scandal of all time, Logan Paul uploaded a video at the beginning of 2019 showing his visit to Aokigahara, otherwise known as the "suicide forest" in Japan. Logan and his team discovered a dead body in the forest and proceeded to film the person with just his face blurred out. After Logan uploaded the video to YouTube, he experienced a wave of hate and headlines, leading him to upload a one-minute and 44-second video titled, "So Sorry." A 104-second video doesn't really defend someone's decision to film a dead body, so Logan's been pretty much canceled since.

Alfie Deyes & The £1 Challenge

YouTube / Alfie Deyes

Alfie Deyes used to be one of the biggest British YouTubers ever, and he still has 3.8m followers. With a predominantly younger audience, people kind of forgot about Alfie as they got older, that was until he experienced his biggest scandal to date. It all started when Alfie (who's super rich) uploaded a video of him doing the "£1 in 24 Hours Challenge" in which he tried to live off £1 for a day. What Alfie didn't realize (because he's stupidly rich) is that a £1 or less budget a day is a reality for a lot of people, and his video was super insensitive. He uploaded an apology video where he owned the mistake, and everyone kind of moved on.

ShayCarl’s Sex Scandal

YouTube / ShayCarl

ShayCarl's apology video is probably the most dramatic one out there. Shay had a family vlogging channel that was wholesome and super religious, but it all came crashing down when his sex scandal involving a cam girl was made known. His apology video consisted of him crying to his camera in his car with what looks like a suitcase in the back seat. Pretty raw stuff, and considering Shay is super religious, things got spiritual and intense. Shay still uploads the odd video, but his channel is nothing like it used to be.

Jeffree Star’s Racist Past

YouTube / Jeffree Star

Jeffree Star has been a controversial character on YouTube for a long time now. His racist past often crops up, causing people to boycott his brand and encourage other companies not to work with him in waves. The years of controversy surrounding Jeffree lead him to upload a 2017 video that he bluntly titled "racism." In the video, Jeffree didn't really attempt to defend his racist past, but apologized and reiterated that he was a different person then. While some people have chosen not to forgive the influencer for his actions, the apology video was pretty well thought out and well received, too.

Zoella & Her £50 Advent Calendar

YouTube / Zoe Sugg

Zoe Sugg, AKA "Zoella," is Alfie Deyes's longtime girlfriend, so it's not too shocking that she's also been involved in a scandal of her own — this one involving money, as well. The British YouTuber has been popular in the UK and across the world for over ten years now, but it's only recently that she was faced with controversy. Because of her super young viewership, the beauty guru has been accused of exploiting children for money with her brand deals and product launches. One of the worst instances was when she released a £50 advent calendar that was worth WAY less than that. She uploaded an apology video, where she kind of apologized, kind of defended herself, and lost a lot of followers in the process.

James Charles’s Tati Video

YouTube / James Charles

How could anyone forget the James Charles/Tati Westbrook drama?! James has had his fair share of scandals throughout his tenure as one of the world's biggest YouTube beauty vloggers, but his spot was blown up after he got into a feud with his ex-BFF, YouTuber Tati. Tati accused James of being a bad friend after he worked with her brand's lead competitor and spilled some tea about him purposely pursuing and manipulating straight young men. As a response, James uploaded a painful video in which he apologized to the beauty guru. The video got torn apart by fans who accused James of "acting" in the video where he spoke very slowly and dramatically. It was also very short. James has since deleted the video, but we don't see people forgetting this one any time soon. He eventually uploaded a longer video addressing all of the Tati's accusations and, for the most part, James Charles's seems to have been forgiven.

When PewDiePie Used The N-Word

YouTube / PewDiePie

Extremely popular gaming YouTuber PewDiePie came under fire when he used the n-word in a livestream back in 2017. The Swedish YouTuber uploaded an apology video after the incident titled "My Response," during which he acknowledged his racial slur and apologized for it. "It was something that I said in the heat of the moment, I said the worst word I could possibly think of and it just slipped out." Fans seem to forgive PewDiePie no matter what, and this example was no different.

Shane Dawson's Blackface Apology

YouTube / Shane Dawson

Shane Dawson is one of the OG YouTubers. He gained his following from making comedic skits on his channel during which he played a number of different characters, some of which were people of color that he attempted to look like by using dark bronzer on his white skin. For years, people had been accusing Shane of being racist whenever he uploaded a video using blackface, but it wasn't till 2014 that he uploaded a video addressing it. Shane sincerely apologized for his old videos, and the majority of his following accepted and forgave him.

Laura Lee’s Racist Tweets

YouTube / Laura Lee

Now, for the apology video that everyone was anticipating would be on this list. Laura Lee has had a few ups and downs throughout her career, but her racist comments were her true downfall. Tweets from 2012 (which was really not that long ago) resurfaced in 2018 which saw Laura write racist jokes that were extremely discriminatory and offensive. She uploaded this very dramatic apology video in which cries hysterically and apologizes in a high pitched, ear-shattering voice. Laura's video quickly became the subject of a ton of parody videos, resulting in her removing the vid from her channel.

Jaclyn Hill's Lipstick Apology

YouTube / Jaclyn Hill

Like Shane, Jaclyn Hill is no newbie when it comes to YouTube, so it's expected that she has a few scandals under her belt. Her biggest drama, however, is also her most recent. In 2019, the beauty YouTuber launched her first cosmetic line of lipsticks that customers quickly criticized for being lumpy, covered in hairs, or smelling bad when they were received. Jaclyn uploaded a lengthy apology video, during which she tried to explain some of the problems people were having with their products. None of her excuses really added up, leaving followers more frustrated than they were before she spoke out.

James Charles & The Racist Tweet

YouTube / James Charles

James Charles is the only YouTuber we've mentioned on this list more than once, but he's had more scandals than we could count. One of the biggest of James's controversies happened when he was still starting out in his career. In 2017, the beauty YouTuber tweeted an insensitive joke about contracting the Ebola virus while in Africa. Since then, more comments made by James resurfaced that were racist in nature, so in late 2017 he uploaded an apology video to Twitter. James was 13-years-old when he made the offensive comments, which he acknowledged in his apology. "I don't expect anyone to magically accept my apology or forgive me."

When Rawvana Ate The Fish

YouTube / Rawvana

In March 2019, raw vegan YouTuber Rawvana uploaded an apology video after she was caught on camera eating fish. The YouTuber created her success from being a strict raw vegan for six years, but it wasn't till another YouTuber's vlog caught her eating fish in a restaurant that she was exposed for lying. In her bizarre apology video, Rawvana said that health issues forced her to begin eating meat again, and that she was sorry for decieving her followers. Her fans made a point of saying that they weren't angry that Rawvana was eating meat, but that she lied about it.

Graveyard Girl Not Getting Her Free Starbucks

YouTube / Graveyard Girl

Quirky YouTuber Graveyard Girl came under fire in 2018 when she uploaded a long rant about the fact that her local Starbucks had stopped giving her multiple free drink refills daily. The YouTuber complained about the coffee chain's loyalty to their customers, which people obviously took as her being entitled and ignorant. The YouTuber, whose real name is Bunny, then uploaded an apology video where she acknowledged that her initial video did make her look entitled. "It was stupid and shortsighted and made me look like an *ssh*le."

The LaBrant Fam Apology

YouTube / The LaBrant Fam

Whatever it is about family vlog channels, they always seem to get themselves into some seriously dodgy scandals. In this case, it involved kids and dogs ... which is always going to turn out bad in our opinion. The LaBrant Family YouTube channel uploaded a video on April Fool's Day 2019 in which they pranked their young daughter by telling her they were giving her dog away. In the video, you could clearly see the LaBrant's daughter get visibly upset, causing viewers to question her parents' cruel actions. The YouTubers eventually uploaded an apology video where they admitted that they took the joke "too far."

Brad Sousa's Cheating Apology

YouTube / Brad Sousa

Tana Mongeau accused her ex-boyfriend Brad Sousa of cheating on her in 2019 in what was definitely a very public bashing. After receiving copius messages of hate online, Brad decided to address the situation by uploading a video of his own, during which he admitted to cheating on Tana online, but denied cheating physically. The video, which Brad titled "i'm sorry.." was just over five minutes long and during it acknowledged that his actions were wrong, and also said that he "regrets every second of it." The couple never got back together, unsurprisingly.

Jenna Marbles & Her Fish

YouTube / James Charles

A more light-hearted video to finish things off, Jenna Marbles's apology to the "fish community" was possibly the highlight of 2017. Basically, Jenna — who is a vegan and huge animal lover — bought some new pet fish for her apartment. After she showed the fish in their tank on her YouTube channel, members of *the fish community* gave her a word or two of advice on the size of the tank they should be housed in. Jenna clearly felt awful about the fact that she was keeping her fish in a tank too small for them, so she uploaded a FORTY SEVEN MINUTE LONG apology video asking for forgiveness. So that, readers, is why Jenna is the queen of YouTube.